


Back Again

by john036



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-12
Updated: 2014-08-12
Packaged: 2018-02-12 19:55:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2122647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/john036/pseuds/john036
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lydia returns to Beacon Hills after leaving six months previously.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Back Again

“You guys don’t need me here, so what’s the point of me staying?” Lydia said as tears poured down her porcelain cheeks. She let’s out a frustrated sigh and wipes the tears away from her face. “God, I told myself I wouldn’t cry.”  
Stiles and Scott looked at each other, shock painted all over their faces. “Lydia, what are you saying?” Scott asks.  
“I’m leaving, Scott,” Lydia says bluntly.   
“Leaving? Why?” Stiles finally asks.  
“I need to get out of this place. So many bad things have happened to me in this town; I nearly died, Allison was murdered, Aiden as well,” Lydia says before her breath hitches. She lets out a slow, shaky breath. “I’m moving in with my dad for the remainder of junior year. Who depending how things quiet down, I’ll consider coming back.”   
“You can’t just leave,” Stiles says. “What about school?”   
“There are other schools, Stiles,” Lydia says softly.   
“When are you leaving?” Scott asks.  
“Sunday,” Lydia responds; two days before Lydia said goodbye to Beacon Hills.

Six months had passed since Lydia moved in with her dad in San Diego. She quickly adjusted to her new school, which she noted was much more rigorous than the one she left behind. The people there welcomed her quickly; Lydia quickly found new friends in Olivia, a tall blonde who was on her way to USC on a volleyball scholarship, and Luke, Olivia’s boyfriend. Lydia guessed that one of the reasons why she liked Olivia and Luke so much was because they reminded her of Allison and Scott, but she didn’t care.   
“Any plans for the summer, Lydia?” Lucas asked her as Lydia drove the three of them to Lydia’s house after their final day of junior year finished.   
“I think I’m going to go visit my mom,” Lydia replies calmly. “I haven’t seen her since I moved here.”  
“That should be fun,” Olivia answers.  
“Yeah, I hope so,” Lydia says quietly as she pulls her car into the driveway.

Lydia arrived back in Beacon Hills at six o’clock two days later. Her mom screamed when she saw her daughter at the front door. “Oh god, Lydia, it’s crazy that it’s only been six months. I swear you’ve been gone for six years,” Lydia’s mom says as she pulls her daughter in for a tight hug.  
“How are things in good old Beacon Hills?” Lydia asks stepping inside, pulling a suitcase behind her. Lydia didn’t know how long she was going to be in Beacon Hills, so she decided to pack for a week.   
“Good, shockingly. No murders or kidnappings. Everything’s quiet and calm,” Natalie says. “I’m heading out to the grocery store to pick some things up for dinner, would you like to come with me?”   
“I have some things I have to do,” Lydia says with a small smile. “What time should I be home for dinner?”  
“Eight,” Natalie says before stepping out of the house and walking to her car.

Lydia sighed at the sight of the Stilinski house. Her mom was right; it felt like Lydia has been gone for six years, instead of six months. She let out a slow breath as she turned off the car and climbed out, walking to the familiar front door. Lydia let out another deep breath before ringing the doorbell. She could hear it echo throughout the house.   
After a few minutes, the door opened to reveal the last person Lydia wanted to see: Malia Hale. Ever since she found out Peter was her father, Malia traded Tate in for Hale. “Lydia! You’re back,” the girl says, stunned.   
“Just visiting,” Lydia says quickly.   
“Malia, who’s at the door?” Stiles says as he came down from the steps. He was still the same old Stiles, messy hair and all. He froze at the sight of her. “Lydia.”  
“Hey,” she says quietly. “Um, you two must be busy. I’ll just come back later, or something.”  
“No, you can come in if you want to,” Stiles says, joining Malia at the door.   
“No, really, it’s fine. I should texted or called, saying I was coming over. See you guys later,” Lydia says quickly. Before Malia or Stiles can say anything, Lydia turns around and hurries to her car.   
After her awkward encounter at the Stilinski residence, Lydia dropped by Scott’s house and then Kira’s, before returning home. She was happy that she was home, even if it was only for a week. 

“Lydia? Stiles is here to see you,” her mother said as Lydia was cleaning the dishes from dinner.   
“What?” Lydia says, nearly dropping the frying pan into the sink. Stiles appears in the doorframe, awkward as ever, and gave her a small wave. “Hi.”  
“Well this is new, never thought I would be seeing Lydia Martin doing the dishes,” Stiles says teasingly.  
“Someone has to do them,” Lydia mumbles as she scrubs the grease from the pan with the mesh sponge. “What’s up?”  
“Sorry about earlier, with Malia and everything. I guess no one told you we got back together,” Stiles says carefully. He moves to stand next to her, leaning against the counter.   
“I guess I missed that Facebook update,” Lydia says, doing her best to not sound bitter, but completely failing.   
“How’s San Diego?” Stiles asks, wanting to change the subject as quickly as possible.   
“Hot,” Lydia says. “But supernatural free, so that’s a plus.”  
“Besides the werewolves, kitsune, and were-coyote, Beacon Hills have been supernatural free,” Stiles answers. He says it diplomatically, as if he’s proud of it.   
“Awesome,” Lydia says, faking enthusiasm.   
“Alright, Lydia, what has gotten your panties in a knot?” Stiles says, tired of the attitude he’s been getting from Lydia.   
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lydia says, faking a smile, looking up to the boy. Bad move; she immediately lost herself in the whiskey brown eyes that she had to tear herself away from when she moved away.   
“Ever since you got home, you’ve been giving this negative energy off.,” Stiles says. Lydia opens her mouth to defend herself, but Stiles continues, cutting her off, “Don’t bother defending yourself, I called Scott and Kira before I got here, and they agree with me. What gives?”  
“I guess I’m just tired from the long day of driving,” Lydia says. She knows it’s a cop out, but it’s the only thing she has going for her.  
“That’s crap, Lydia, and you know it. Lydia Martin does not get tired,” Stiles shoots back. “Even after staying up till four in the morning researching god knows what, you always walk into school as if you got a full night’s rest.”  
“Well, maybe I’ve changed. People change, don’t they?” Lydia asks.   
“Yeah, and it sucks that I wasn’t there to see it,” Stiles spits the words out like they are venom. They sting Lydia like hot water.  
“I needed to get out of here, Stiles,” Lydia says quietly.   
“Yeah, so do I,” Stiles responds. “So does my dad, Scott, Mrs. McCall, Kira, your mom, Malia, basically everyone!”   
“You don’t get it, Stiles, it wasn’t just the supernatural stuff that drove me away!” Lydia yells at the boy. Her eyes burn with tears as she yells those words.  
“Then what were the other reasons?” Stiles asks, cocking an eyebrow. Lydia can tell he’s getting just upset as she is.  
“You forgot about me,” Lydia says quietly, the tears slowly rolling down her cheeks.  
“What are you talking about?” Stiles asks.  
Lydia sighs, finally pulling her hands out of the sink, drying them off on a dishtowel. “As soon as Malia came into the picture, I got pushed to the background. It was as if everything that happened between us got erased, or something, and you replaced me with her.”  
“What are you talking about?” Stiles asks again.  
“Name all the times we hung out after Malia and you started whatever,” Lydia begins. “And I mean when it just us; because I can only think of the time when we went to see Meredith at Eichen House and when we went back to your house to figure out the third cipher key.” Stiles is quiet because he knows that she’s right. “But that’s not…the only reason…why I left.” Her voice suddenly gets shaky.  
“Why else did you leave?” Stiles asks, thrown off guard.  
“I fell in love with you,” Lydia says with a single shoulder shrug. “I’m still in love with you. And seeing you with Malia brought back all the feelings I had when I left. I finally got, and still get, what you felt like when you saw me and Jackson, and then me and Aiden together. And I’m sorry.”  
“Lydia, you have nothing to apologize for,” Stiles responds. “You were in love.” Lydia swallows loudly. “But so am I.” The word pierce Lydia’s heart like a knife.

The rest of the summer zoomed by like a NASCAR race, and soon Lydia found herself at the first day of her senior year; the beginning of the end. She sighed as she exited her car and walked towards the school. She smiled and waved at the familiar faces as she walked down the hall. The familiarity of the place soon came back to her, and she found herself at the locker she said goodbye to last year. She was happy she was able to get it back after transferring back to Beacon Hills from her school in San Diego. Lydia was happy to be back at Beacon Hills High; she realized it was stupid of her to run away from those feeling she had towards Stiles, and she needed to face them face on.   
“Lydia!” Kira yells from the other side of the hallway. Lydia turns and sees the young kitsune run towards her, bringing her in for a hug. “God, I’m so happy that you’re back!”   
“So am I” Lydia says.  
“Lydia, you transferred back,” Stiles says from behind Kira. Lydia saw that his long fingers were intertwined with Malia’s, but she did her best to hide the sadness in her face.   
“Surprise,” Lydia says, shaking her fingers.  
“It’s good to have you back,” Stiles says.   
“I’m just happy you’re back to help me with math, Stiles is horrible compared to you,” Malia says, causing Lydia to laugh.  
“Hey!” Stiles says.   
“What’s your first class?” Kira asks.  
“English,” Lydia says, glancing down at the schedule in her hands.   
“Damn, we don’t have first period together anymore,” Kira says with a pout. She looks over Lydia’s schedule. “We have third and fifth period together, though!”   
“Oh, we have second and third,” Stiles says.  
“Yay we have math!” Malia says.  
“I better get to class,” Lydia says after the bell rings. “Stiles, I’ll see you in the computer lab second period.”   
“Of course,” Stiles says, shooting her the same goofy smile she fell in love with.

Lydia entered the English classroom and quickly found a seat towards the front, where she always sat. The other students quickly filed in, some giving her weird looks, not expecting her to be back at Beacon Hills so soon. Lydia recognized every last one of them, and smiled at each and every one of them. The only person she didn’t recognize was a tall, muscular boy when he walked in. His skin tone was similar to coffee with a lot of creamer in it, and his hair was a nice curly brown, cut short to his head. He had piercing blue eyes. He sat down next to Lydia.   
“You new here?” Lydia asks the boy.  
“Yeah, transferred here from Seattle,” the boy says.  
“I’m Lydia,” she says, holding out a hand.  
The boy takes it and shakes it. “Nice to meet you, Lydia. My name is Charles.”  
The two talked to each other whenever the teacher gave them the opportunity to. Lydia couldn’t help but smile whenever she spoke to him, and she was captivated by his blue eyes, his muscular stature, and the wide grin he kept on trying to suppress. Lydia wasn’t surprised when he asked her out by the end of the class period. She said yes.   
“So I’ll call you later?” Charles says, as he and Lydia walked out of the classroom and into the hallway when the bell rang. Lydia didn’t notice Stiles leaning against the lockers.   
“Sounds like a plan,” Lydia says, giving Charles a wide smile as he walked away. He didn’t turn away from Lydia as he walked down the hallway, a happy smile on his face. He didn’t notice the freshman until he walked into the them. The incident caused Lydia to laugh.  
“Who’s that guy?” Stiles asks, walking up to Lydia. She didn’t notice the hint of jealously in his voice.  
“Charles. He’s new,” Lydia says as she and Stiles walk towards the computer lab.  
“And you’re going out on a date with him?” Stiles asks.  
“Yes,” Lydia asks. “Is that okay with you?”   
“Why wouldn’t it be?”  
“That’s what I thought.”

After second period, which consisted of Stiles catching Lydia up on everything that happened during the six months she was gone, which consisted of his father and Scott’s mother finally starting to date, which Stiles and Scott were thrilled about. Third period came and went, and lunch soon arrived.   
Lydia joined her other pack members, at the regular lunch table towards the windows of the cafeteria. Lydia noticed Charles walking into the cafeteria and immediately being overtaken by the immense places where he could sit. “Hey guys, do you mind if my friend sits with us?” Lydia asks the others.   
“She means her boyfriend,” Stiles says teasingly.  
“Shut up, we’re going out on one date, who knows how it’s going to turn out,” Lydia shoots back.  
“You already have a date?” Kira asks, stunned.  
“Is it surprising? Look at her,” Malia says. Lydia turned her attention, a little offended. “You’re pretty. Pretty people get dates.”  
“That’s a direction I never thought you would have taken that in,” Lydia says. Malia just shrugs and digs into her lunch.  
“I guess it’s alright,” Scott says as she takes Kira’s hand in his nonchalantly.   
“Thanks,” Lydia says with a smile. She stands and waves down Charles, he smiles gratefully as he walks over to Lydia.  
“Lydia, hey,” Charles says.  
“Sit with us,” she says with a smile.   
“Thanks,” Charles says, sitting down in between Lydia and Liam.   
“Everyone, this is Charles,” Lydia says. “Charles, this is Malia, Stiles, Kira, Scott, and Liam.” Charles and the others wave at each other. “Charles just moved here from Seattle.”   
“Dude, I always wanted to go there,” Stiles says.  
Charles chuckles. “I get that a lot,” he anwers.  
“How do you like Beacon Hills so far?” Kira asks him.  
“I like it. People here are nice,” Charles says.  
“You chose a right town if you want the nice people,” Stiles says sarcastically. Everyone laughs at the joke, except Lydia, who narrows her eyes at Stiles.   
“Your eyes are really blue,” Malia notes.  
“Uh, yeah. I get that a lot. It throws people off,” Charles answers. He seems to be hinting to something, but no one else getting what he’s implying. “I’m half-white, half-black.”  
“Huh,” Stiles says with a nod. “I hear you and our dear friend Lydia have a date coming up.”  
Charles immediately blushes and Lydia buries her face in her hands. “Your friends learn things quickly, huh?” Charles asks Lydia, smirking.  
“Their hearing is really good,” Lydia says meekly.   
“Uh, yeah, Lydia and I have a date,” Charles answers. By the way he answers the question, everyone can tell he doesn’t want to talk much more about it, either because of nerves, or because he wants to surprise Lydia. 

“What the hell was that, Stiles?” Lydia says, pulling Stiles away from Scott after the two boys exited the cafeteria after lunch.   
“What are you talking about?” Stiles asks.  
“Why were you such a dick to Charles? What the hell did he ever do to you?” she asks him.   
“What are you talking about?” Stiles asks, confused.   
“Don’t try to pull the confused puppy act with me right now, Stiles, I’m tired of it. Why did you ask about my date with Charles?” Lydia asks.  
“I was just trying to strike up conversation,” Stiles says, putting his hands up in defense.  
“That wasn’t making conversation, Stiles,” Lydia answers. “That was being a world class asshole.” Lydia stomps off to her fourth period class. 

Lydia returned home after school ended and quickly finished her homework. Even though she had early decision to Stanford, she still wanted to keep her grades at the level they always were. Soon after finishing her homework, her phone rang. It was Charles.  
“Hello?” Lydia asks, putting the phone up to her ear.  
“Hey, Lydia. It’s Charles,” he says.   
Lydia immediately smiles at the sound of his voice. “Oh hey, what’s up?” she leaves her desk, and goes to lay down on her bed.   
“So, I know this sort of last minute and everything, but do you want to get dinner with me tonight? My dad’s working late, and he said I’ll have to fend for myself for the evening,” Charles explains.  
“Yeah, I can do tonight. Where are you thinking of going?” Lydia questions.  
“There’s this pizza place near my house. I think it’s called Romeo’s?” Charles guesses. Lydia laughs. “I’m guessing you heard of it?”  
“Everyone has heard of it,” Lydia says. “Um meet there in twenty minutes?”  
“Perfect,” Charles says before hanging up.  
Lydia hangs up as well and rolls off her bed. She crosses her bedroom to her closet and begins getting ready for the date. 

Ten minutes later, Lydia exited her house wearing one of her many floral dresses. She did her hair in a nice braid and changed her make up. She said goodbye to her mother, who didn’t even question where her daughter was going, and went to her car.  
Lydia arrived at the agreed location five minutes later and quickly got out of her car. As soon as she got out of the car, she knew something wasn’t right; she wasn’t at Romeo’s, she was at the school, the parking lot abandoned. “Oh please, no,” Lydia whispers to herself as she notices one of the side doors opened just a crack. She quickly walks towards the door and enters the school.   
The hallway is too dark to see, so she pulls out her phone and turns on the flash to use as a flashlight. She quietly walks down the hallway, letting her banshee powers take full control of her body.   
She finds herself in the gymnasium. All the lights are off, of course, so she shines the light around. Lydia walks around before drip something lands on her shoulder. She immediately shines the light up above her and finds a body, hung from the basketball backboard, The man’s heart was ripped from his chest. It didn’t take Lydia long to let out an ear piercing scream.

Stiles arrived at the school ten minutes later. Lydia knew that he must have broke numerous traffic laws, since he lived twenty minutes away from school, but Lydia decided to not question him about it. “You called?” he says, his eyes wide in worry, and his voice loud.   
It seems as though Stiles doesn’t know why Lydia called him. “Dead body. Remember? I call you whenever I find a dead body?” the tone Lydia uses is annoyance. She can’t believe Stiles doesn’t remember telling her those words.   
“Right,” Stiles says quickly, walking past her and into the school.   
“Where’s the body?” he asks her.   
“Gym,” Lydia answers bitterly, picking up her pace so that she doesn’t have to walk besides Stiles.   
The two enter the gym and Stiles manages to find the light switch, illuminating the large gym before them. “How long do you think he was up there?” Stiles wonders out loud.  
“Long enough to make that puddle,” Lydia says. The puddle was below him, it was the size of a teacher’s desk. Lydia managed to not step in it, somehow.   
“You didn’t call the police yet, did you?” Stiles asks. Lydia shakes her head. “Good.”  
“Thought you would want to see the body before your dad did,” Lydia says quietly. “Do you think it’s supernatural?”  
“Who –“  
Lydia’s phone rings, cutting him off. “Shit, it’s Charles,” she says. She answers the phone.   
“Lydia? Hey, where are you?” Charles asks. He’s worried.  
“Charles, oh my god, I’m so sorry. My mom didn’t want me to go out tonight since it’s the first day of school. I’m so sorry,” Lydia says. She means every word she says, even though she’s lying. She catches Stiles looking at her with great curiousity.   
“It’s okay, don’t worry about. We can always reschedule,” Charles says. Lydia lets out a sigh. She can’t believe how nice and understanding he is.   
“Thank you for understanding. I’ll see you at school tomorrow,” Lydia says. The two exchange their goodbyes and she hangs up the phone. 

Thirty minutes later, the sheriff okayed his son and Lydia to leave the crime scene. He told Stiles to call Scott on his way home. “Come on, I’ll give you a ride home,” Stiles says to Lydia as they walk past the numerous police cars.  
“It’s okay, I drove here,” she says. She doesn’t want to stay with Stiles longer than she needs to, because only God knows what she might do to him.  
“Lydia, you just saw your first dead body in six months, and just had your first banshee episode in six months,” Stiles says caringly. He looks at her like he used; the same Lydia fell in love with. “I don’t want you driving home. Please, let me take you home.”  
“Stiles,” Lydia says, not wanting to get in an argument with Stiles, since all she wanted to do was sleep. “I’m fine. I promise.”  
“Lydia,” Stiles says again.  
“Stiles! Please, just stop,” Lydia says, finally snapping. Stiles takes a step back in surprise.   
“What is going on with you?” he asks her.  
Tears start to fill her eyes, but Lydia blinks them away. “You are, Stiles. I can’t let you take me home because then I’ll fall in love with you all over again, and I can’t go through that pain again.” Lydia let’s out a sigh as Stiles let’s the words sink in. “So please, go home. I’ll be fine. If it helps, I’ll text you when I get home safely, alright?”  
Stiles just nods. “Good night, Lydia,” he says. He turns and walks back to his jeep and climbs in. He doesn’t move his car until he sees Lydia’s car pull out of the parking lot.

Three weeks later, Stiles and Lydia haven’t spoken directly to each other since the night at the school. If they did speak to each other, it would only be in a group setting, and they would keep their words short and to the point. The body they found was the janitor. It was starting again; someone was killing off the citizens of Beacon Hills again. Deaton said it was another ritual.   
Things between Lydia and Charles were going well. He understood that she had a life outside of him, and that she needed some time with her friends. Right now, Lydia was seated in the McCall living room, sitting in the chair she always sits in whenever there is a pack meeting at Scott’s house.   
“Scott, three people are already dead, who knows how much longer this going to go on,” Stiles says, rubbing the back of his neck in worry. Lydia just sat there, silently. These past three months, with all these deaths weren’t doing any good for her. Although she put on this façade of happiness, she was breaking inside. These banshee powers were growing with every day going by, and she still didn’t know to control them. “And they’re taking a toll on Lydia.” Lydia looks up at the whiskey-eyed boy upon hearing her name. Just by her body language, the rest of the pack knew that immediately that Stiles was right.  
“Lydia, is he right? Are you okay?” Scott asks, turning his attention to her.   
Lydia lets out a shuttered sigh and just shrugs. “I don’t know. It’s like with every death, I feel worse and worse about myself. It’s like I’m piece of glass, and with every death, I crack more and more,” she says, tears burning at her eyes.  
“Why didn’t you tell any of us?” Kira asks, leaning in to rest a comforting hand on Lydia.  
“Because I thought I could take care of it, that I would be okay,” Lydia says. The pack sits there in silence. “Um, my mom doesn’t want me staying out late with all these murders, so I better get going.” She stands, and Stiles does as well. Lydia’s eyes widen in shock, and so does the other pack members’.   
“Are you going to make sure she gets home okay?” Malia asks, looking up to her boyfriend.  
“Uh, yeah,” Stiles says. He and Lydia walk out the door. “Are you sure you’re okay, Lyds?”  
Lydia smiles thoughtfully at the boy. She hasn’t heard him call her that in months. “I’ll get better,” she says simply. 

The two climb into Stiles’ jeep and drive over to Lydia’s house. “Thanks for the ride,” Lydia says, unbuckling her seat belt and opening the door.  
“Do you mind if I walk you inside?” Stiles asks.  
“Stiles,” Lydia says, thinking back to the conversation she had with Stiles in the parking lot three months ago, where she poured her heart out.  
“I know, I know,” Stiles says, thinking about the same thing. “I just really need to talk to you about something.”  
“Alright, fine. Come on in,” Lydia says, climbing out of the car with Stiles doing the same. Neither of them notice the car parked in front of the Martin residence. “Mom, I’m home!” Lydia yells as she and Stiles enter the house.  
“In here!” Natalie yells back from the kitchen. The two teens walk through the house and into the kitchen.   
Both Lydia and Stiles are taken off guard by Charles, who sits at the kitchen table with Lydia’s mother. “Charles,” Lydia says, smiling awkwardly as she walks over to the boy to kiss him quickly on the cheek.   
“Sorry I’m sort of, here,” Charles says with a soft chuckle. “I haven’t seen you in such a long time, I thought I would come over and surprise you. Your mom said you wouldn’t be home for a while so she said I could just here.” Charles glances at Stiles and gives him a friendly smile. “Hey Stiles.”  
Stiles nods at him. “Charles.”  
“Um, I have a feeling that you two need to talk about something,” Charles says, looking from Lydia to Charles.  
“Uh, yeah, but it can wait. Lydia, Charles, see you at school tomorrow,” Stiles says.  
“You sure?” Lydia asks.  
“Yeah, yeah,” Stiles says with a nod. He turns and walks out of the kitchen and out of the house. 

“So what was that thing you wanted to talk to me about?” Lydia asks as she and Stiles sit in the jeep, on their way back to Lydia’s house for a night of research and the highly probable Chinese take-out.  
“What are you talking about?” Stiles honestly doesn’t know what she’s talking about. He turns to her, an eyebrow raised.  
“When you drove me home after the pack meeting?” Lydia explains. Stiles still doesn’t follow. “When Charles was there?”  
“Oh right!” The event flashes in his head. “Uh, nothing. It wasn’t important,” Stiles says, pulling out of the parking lot and onto the main street.  
“You sure? You made it seem like it was something important,” Lydia says, it’s her turn to cock an eyebrow.  
“It’s not important anymore,” Stiles grumbles. Lydia watches him with curiosity in her eye. She shrugs and turns to focus on the trees Stiles speeds past.

“Are you one-hundred percent positive your grandmother was a banshee, too?” Stiles sits at Lydia’s desk, typing away on his computer. He’s researching Lydia’s family on her maternal grandmother’s side.   
“Why else would she have a soundproof room in the lake house?” Lydia asks, not bothering to look up from the very large, very old book laid out in front of her.  
“I don’t know. Maybe she had wild sex parties in there,” Stiles says with a joking smirk.  
“Ew, do not put that picture in my head!” Lydia says, throwing one of her numerous pillows from her bed at Stiles’ head. He easily dodges them.  
“Just speculating,” Stiles says with a shrug, turning back to the computer. The two resort to silence as they continue to work. “How’s Charles?”  
The question throws Lydia off a little bit. “What do you mean?” Lydia asks.  
Stiles shrugs, turning around once again. “How is he?” Stiles asks.   
“He’s fine,” Lydia says, narrowing her eyes. “Why do you want to know?”  
Stiles shrugs, yet again. “I don’t know. Just do,” he answers. “Have you told him about what really goes on in Beacon Hills?”  
“Nope,” she pops at ‘p’. “Never will.”  
“Really?” Stiles asks; he’s genuinely shocked at Lydia’s response. “What if you guys date for a while? Isn’t he already worried about where you go at one o’clock in the morning.”  
Lydia rolls her eyes. “He knows that I like to have some…fun.” Stiles smirks at the word. “So he gives me space.” Lydia sits up, closing the book and crossing her legs. “It’s not like I expect to marry the guy, Stiles. We’ve only been seeing each other a month.” Stiles nods, understanding everything she’s saying. “Tell me about your love life. How’s Malia? I see that she forgives you for keeping the truth about her father from her.”  
“Or so it seems,” Stiles says. “Things between us aren’t so great.” Stiles stands and joins Lydia on the bed, sitting across from her. “I don’t know, I just feel like the spark we had fizzled out. I feel like I’m forcing her into this relationship.”   
“A little effort is okay,” Lydia advises. “But only if it’s recuperated.”  
Stiles smiles. “You think I should break up with her, don’t you?”   
“I would do it before she does,” Lydia says, smiling.  
“Um, you know that thing I wanted to talk to you about?” Stiles asks.  
“I thought there was no thing?”   
“I lied.”  
Lydia lets out a chuckle. “Imagine that.”  
Stiles smiles. “What I wanted to say was, even though it seems like I’m over you,” Stiles begins slowly. “I’m not. And I don’t think I ever will be.” Stiles looks up from his hands to look Lydia right into her eyes.   
“Stiles, I-“  
“Lydia?” Charles says, walking in on them. Both Stiles and Lydia jump, letting out a noise in shock and fright. Lydia clutches her chest, while Stiles lets out a low groan. Charles immediately notices how close his girlfriend and Stiles were. “Oh.”  
“Charles,” Lydia says, putting on her best smile she can muster at that moment. “I didn’t know you were coming over.”  
“I was going to surprise you and take you out to dinner,” Charles says. “But it seems like you already have plans.” Charles turns to walk out the bedroom. Lydia gets up from the bed and chases him down.  
“Charles, wait!” she says as he reaches the top of the staircase. “That wasn’t what it looks like. We were just talking.”   
“Look, Lydia, I know about you and Stiles,” he says. Lydia’s mouth unhinges. “I managed to convince Kira to tell me. I get that you two have a history, but I really like being with you.” Charles lets out a sigh. “But I can’t do this anymore. I can’t compete with him.”  
“Charles, what are you talking about? You aren’t competing with anyone,” Lydia says.  
“How many times have you hung out with him in the past week?” Charles asks. Lydia closes her mouth, thinking. “And how many times have we hung out this week? Or the past two weeks?” Lydia lets out a defeated sigh.  
“So this is it?” she asks. “We’re done.”   
“I didn’t want to end things,” Charles says. “But it’s clear that you wanted to. Probably for a long time, too. See you at school.” Charles walks down the stairs and out the door. Lydia lets out another sigh and walks back to her room.   
“Everything okay?” Stiles asks.  
“We broke up,” Lydia answers, quietly. She crawls back onto her bed. Stiles still hasn’t moved from the position Charles found him and Lydia in.   
“You okay?” he asks, resting a comforting hand on her calf.  
“I’ll manage,” she answers. “Always have, always will.”  
“Do you want to get back to work, or do you want to go get some dinner?” he asks.  
“Dinner sounds good,” Lydia says, standing up. 

The go to the Chinese restaurant Kira introduced to them a few weeks back. They take a table of two near the back corner. The dinner is quiet; neither one of them know what to say in this situation. Normally, Lydia wouldn’t have to talk about a break up because she never faced a break up; things just ended, Jackson, Aiden, and now Charles. 

“Call me if you need to talk about it,” Stiles says after dinner. They’re standing at Stiles’ jeep outside of Lydia’s house.  
“Will do,” Lydia says with a nod. Things go quiet between the two. Lydia can’t help but notice it’s been quiet between the two quite lately. “Well I better go back in-“  
She’s interrupted by Stiles pulling her in by the waist and cupping her cheeks, kissing her softly. The two pull away, Stiles’ eyes wide in guilt. “Oh my god, I’m-“  
Lydia shuts him up this time. The second kiss has a lot more passion and emotion in it; they have to pry themselves from each other. “I guess neither one of us are over each other,” she says, the side of Stiles mouth twitching upwards. They rest their foreheads together.  
“I guess not,” Stiles says, grinning.

They waited two weeks after the break up between Malia and Stiles to make things official. It happened on a Thursday; Stiles walked up to Lydia, who was leaning against her locker, deep in conversation with Scott and Kira about their upcoming test, and spun her around so that she collided with him. Lydia, still thinking they were going to cover things up, was about to ask him what he was doing, but he shut her up with a kiss. Lydia can’t help but notice their kisses tend to do that a lot.


End file.
